Perseid Meteor Shower - August 11 & 12, 2012

Weather: partly cloudy -> clearing

The 2012 Perseid meteor shower put on a great show! The evening of August 11 started with partly cloudy skies that cleared off as the evening progressed. While a few meteors were seen in the early evening, activity picked up after midnight. Even the rising moon could not spoil the show as a good number of meteors could be seen until daybreak.

The image above is a 5 hour stack of continous video from 11:30 PM August 11 until 4:30 AM August 12. 89 Perseids are captured along with 5 sporadics. The Perseids can be identified through their trails which point back to the shower radiant in Perseus. As the radiant is moving during this composite, the meteor trails show that movement.

In addition to the meteors, star trails, 6 airplane trails and a bright, waning crescent moon rising in the east are seen in the image. The lights on the horizon are from nearby houses and street lights.